Color Inspiration

Color Inspiration from Purple Flower Garden
Interestingly, the color palette I used in my last painting actually includes the #ColoroftheYear: Marsala!

Would love to see what you do with this color palette!

How to Use the Colors of the Year

Tangerine Tango? Radiant Orchid? Marsala?

(here are the #1 colors of the last 3 years used together)

#ColoroftheYear

Colors come and colors go - the color industry declaring what is hot right now and the fashion, home decor, beauty product industries scrambling to keep up by issuing new clothing, new jewelry, new paint, new pillows and towels, nail polish... This is of course designed to keep us buying!

But how do we keep up? What if we really love the colors from 2 years ago? What if our wardrobe is filled with last years 'Radiant Orchid' (2013), our dining room painted with a bright red wall from oh sometime in the early 2000s, our living room brightened up with accents of 'Tangerine Tango' (2012). How does the new 'Marsala' (2015) fit in?

My #1 Mantra: Define your color palette, the one that makes you feel happy, comfortable, energized, the colors that make you light up from within. Surround yourself with 'Your Colors', stick with them whether they are 'in' or not. Then - only after you feel good - for a bit of fun, throw in accents of the Color du Jour.

But, you ask, what if the Color of the Year doesn't go with my color palette?

This is the fun part!

My #2 Mantra: All colors (can) go together! Yup - even if they are very far apart and look off when viewed side by side by their selves. The key is what you put with them!

I go into a lot more depth in my eBooks: Artful Color for Creative Projects and Dip Into ColorDip Into Color - but here is the heart of pulling colors together - add transition colors, the ones that guide your eye from one color to the next and voila! they all look good together!

Have fun pulling colors together and adding accents of the Color of the Year to your palette!

Color Inspiration - Barberry New Growth

Pantone's 2015 Color of the Year - Marsala graces this cool earthone color palette
Color wheel from Eye For Color

Color Inspiration - Mustard Plant

Color Inspiration with 2015 Color of the Year - Marsala (4th from left)

This little Mustard plant self seeded itself next to some bright green Euphorbia in my garden last spring.

Color of the Year - Marsala

Looking at how Pantone's new color of the year works into a Purple and Gold color palette!

Color palette from a few days ago - with added 'Marsala'

Color Inspiration - Purple and Gold Flowers

My cutting garden is full of Purple and Gold flowers, in a variety of shades and hues.

Want to create bouquets that glow with color? I live by my motto that all colors can work together! Just remember that if you want to pull together colors that are very different from each other, simply add transitions:

By pairing equally saturated versions of each of the complementary colors - intense purple salvia and buddleia with orange-yellow rudbeckia, I can then pull in the warmer, less intense hues - light yellow rose, beige-orange african daisy, red-purple spiky flower (which I can't remember the name of!). The african daisy works well in the palette not just because it is in the yellow-orange color family, but also because the center acts as a perfect transition from orange to purple.

p.s. Note that Radiant Orchid (#coloroftheyear) is included in this palette - 6th from the left

Have fun playing with color!
If you want to learn more: Artful Color for Creative Projects
All color wheels from: Eye For Color

Color Inspiration - Scratched Paint

 

 (color palette in various mediums)

Artwork created for fabric sublimation provided color inspiration for other projects

Color Inspiration - Lavender Poppies

A mix of teal and purple with just a hint of copper thrown in for pop.

Another way to use the #Coloroftheyear Radiant Orchid

Color Inspiration - Sunset Nuno Felt Scarf

Color Inspiration - Sunset Nuno Felt Scarf
Use Pantone's Color of the Year in new and lovely ways - here it is (4th from the right) enlivened by warm, bright colors!

More color inspiration

Color Inspiration

Color Inspiration: Paper Iris

Use Pantone's New Color of the Year: Radiant Orchid in new and lovely ways!
Here is my idea of some colors to use with it (Radiant Orchid is 6th from the right)

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